My thoughts and perspectives on health, science, and logic… Keep an open mind!

Posts tagged ‘Digestion’

While my post on what NOT to read may have given the impression that I hate Internet health articles, the reality is quite the opposite. Some convey a very sensible and concise message. This is of course more believable when the article isn’t trying to SELL something! Take this Yahoo! article, for instance:

I tend to eat a fairly good bit of fiber (much more than most of my friends, and I am often teased for this). I find that it not only helps with filling me up and keeping everything “regular,” but it also makes it easier for my body to handle excesses that I sometimes force upon it. While I’m not going to dig into glycemic index talks right now, I find that tempering my meals with a healthy dose of fiber tends to help to stabilize my weight and energy levels. While it’s not a complete fix, it seems to help with some of the cheating guilt 🙂

One can always nitpick about a few things. I think the author should have made a better effort to distinguish between pectin and cellulose (different types of fiber) and clarified regarding which kinds of fat are most likely contribute to gastric irritation. But the overall message is pretty clear and accurate, and that’s the big point of this post. Try a couple of simple things like working some fiber-friendly foods into your diet. See if it doesn’t help a bit!

Finally, make sure you couple your fiber with a good bit of water. That tends to help things operate more smoothly, as excessive fiber intake without enough hydration can actually have an opposite effect from what you want!